Description
Book SynopsisA New York Times Editors' Choice Winner of the J. Anthony Lukas Award Longlisted for the Cundill History Prize Absorbing. Segregation is not one story but many. Luxenberg has written his with energy, elegance and a heart aching for a world without it. James Goodman, The New York Times Book Review
Trade Review"Dazzlingly well-reported.… [A]n eye-opening journey through some of the darkest passages and haunting corridors of American history." -- Terence Samuel - NPR
"Deeply researched, and it wears its learning lightly." -- Louis Menand - The New Yorker
"A striking view of Reconstruction and of the tragic stillbirth of freedom in that era." -- Charles S. Dameron - Wall Street Journal
"
Separate vividly tells the story of how far our country had to go to repudiate its commitments to a racial double standard." -- David Cole - The Nation
"Luxenberg gives a three-dimensional and almost novelistic treatment to the players involved, drawing on diaries, letters and archival research." -- Joumana Khatib - The New York Times
"In
Separate, the context and aftermath of the court’s ruling in
Plessy v. Ferguson are woven into a nuanced history of America’s struggles in the 19th century as a civil war was fought, slavery ended and a new, complex racial politics haltingly took form." -- The Economist
"Informative, engaging, exquisitely written, sensitive to individuals’ frailties, flaws, and inconsistencies, by turns inspiring and dispiriting,
Separate is a splendid work of history." -- Glenn C. Altschuler - Florida Courier
"In documenting this country’s fateful journey from slavery through thwarted Reconstruction to segregation, Luxenberg paints on a broad canvas, elegantly narrating several captivating and scrupulously researched stories that converge in
Plessy v. Ferguson.… [F]ascinating." -- Steve Nathans-Kelly - New York Journal of Books
"[Luxenberg] is a fine writer…
Separate reminds us that our history is not simply a narrative of greater and greater freedom." -- Eric Foner - The Washington Post
"An ambitious and deeply researched nonfiction account.… [Luxenberg] draws on letters, diaries and archival collections to bring the true story to life." -- Suzanne Van Atten - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
